Utility Week

24 | APRIL 2023 | UTILITY WEEK Customers Analysis Best behaviour: getting to grips with behavioural science Utilities need to be able to influence people's behaviour if they are going to help vulnerable consumers or reduce wasteful consumption. Industry leaders due to speak at Utility Week Live in May share their thoughts on the challenge. A s utilities square up to a resource- stressed future in which they will need to make smarter use of their asset base to maintain affordable services, consumer behaviour is becoming an increas- ingly critical dependency. The promise of a low-carbon future will be lost without pervasive changes to con- sumer behaviour, including a shi in atti- tudes and awareness to increase uptake of low-carbon heating and distributed energy technologies, which still face financial and practical barriers. Demand-side flexibility and the ability to shi power demand when supply is high or low will ease problems with network capac- ity and smooth the integration of distrib- uted renewable sources. Likewise in water, driving demand reduction will be critical to maintaining sustainable supplies for a grow- ing population reliant on a diminishing life- giving resource delivered via infrastructure which is in sore need of renewal. Moreover, mastering the art of consumer influence could help utilities do more than increase resilience in service delivery. The ability to understand and influence con- sumer behaviour also plays into the sector's fight for legitimacy at a time when it's under increasing scrutiny. And in a linked chal- lenge, it will play a key role in their quest to provide better support for vulnerable cus- tomers, including those hit by the affordabil- ity crisis and widening fuel poverty gap. But deriving benefits from behaviour change relies on the ability to tap into con- sumer motivators and create a willingness in people to change habits and shi consump- tion to different times. With public responses to the above challenges ranging from enthu- siasm to outright objection, energy and water companies are rethinking commercial mod- els and ways of engaging with consumers to achieve their varied objectives. Initiatives being spearheaded include a drive to better engage people with flexibility through com- petition, disaggregated energy statements for smart meters and a plan to open up data on vulnerable customers to improve support. "Organisations in the water sector really need to work together to understand what motivates people to change the way they do things," explains Ana-Maria Millan, policy manager at water consumer group CCW.

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